PORT ANGELES – Fire investigators are not certain what caused a triplex on East 10th Street to burn to charred timber on Monday, but they have a theory.
“The official cause has to be ‘undetermined,'” said Port Angeles Fire Marshal Ken Dubuc on Tuesday afternoon.
“Mostly likely, it was a result of discarded smoking materials,” such as a cigarette left burning on furniture or an overturned ashtray.
Dubuc said the cause is “officially undetermined” because the investigation did not find hard evidence that cigarettes or other smoking materials were to blame.
“We can’t be conclusive because we can only rule things out,” he said.
The investigation was able to rule out most other causes, he said.
But the unofficial cause fits with what those living at the triplex told firefighters.
Also, the investigator pinned down the source of the fire as being the occupied basement apartment.
Owner Ann Leinaar said she is not sure if she will be able to rebuild the triplex at 531 E. 10th St. that she has owned for 17 years.
A big part of that decision will be what compensation her insurance company – State Farm Insurance – offers, she said.
The fire department calculated that it may cost $300,000 to rebuild the building, Dubuc said.
But that figure is used by the city to track annual fire loss, and is not the same as a contractor’s estimate, Dubuc said.
Leinaar said she knows too little right now to make up her mind about rebuilding.
She hopes to know more in the coming days.
“Things will happen that will tell me more,” she said.
Leinaar said she is trying to contact all her tenants to refund their security and cleaning deposits as well as rent for the last month on their leases.
